In the prior practice, the preparation of samples for testing, particularly blood samples for photometric testing, has been a complicated and time consuming process, requiring large quantities of blood and expensive equipment. For example, in the prior practice a large quantity of blood is extracted from a vein of the patient, by an extraction vessel consisting of a cannula and a blood pump. Then a part of the extracted quantity of blood is placed in a centrifuging apparatus and centrifuged to separate the substance to be tested. After this separation process, a predetermined quantity of the separated substance is extracted by means of a dispensing appliance, for example a pipette, and is mixed in a cuvet with a predetermined preparation of reactive liquid to form the required measuring or testing fluid. This known method thus requires expensive transfer equipment and involves the problem of keeping the transfer equipment (including pipettes, for example) clean and sanitary for repeated use.
An object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional method, greatly simplifying the procedure as well as employing equipment which can be produced sufficiently cheaply so that it may be used only once and then discarded, eliminating the need for cleaning and sterilizing it for reuse.